Sex offender’s BBQ a liability for Cambridge City Council candidate

Wednesday

Sep 23, 2009 at 12:01 AMSep 23, 2009 at 11:17 PM

A community activist-turned-registered sex offender’s upcoming barbecue is turning into a political liability for at least one Cambridge City Council candidate. Former Boston City Councilor and Area 4 Coalition coordinator David Scondras, who pleaded guilty to child enticement in 2007, sent out fliers to neighbors promoting a “backyard style bar-b-q” on Sept. 27.

David L. Harris

A community activist-turned-sex offender’s upcoming barbecue is turning into a political liability for at least one Cambridge City Council candidate.

Former Boston City Councilor and Area 4 Coalition coordinator David Scondras, who pleaded guilty to child enticement in 2007, sent out fliers to neighbors promoting a “backyard style bar-b-q” on Sept. 27.

“I was kind of shocked,” said first-time City Council candidate Minka vanBuezekom, a fellow Area 4 resident whose name appears on the flier as one of the guests. “I’m naive, but I’m not that politically naive.”

Scondras, who used to host regular political barbecues, said one of his volunteers created the flier and he had no idea whose names appeared on it. In the past, luminaries such as Gov. Deval Patrick have attended the barbecue.

“It’s not weird, it’s a pretty common thing around here,” he said about the party. “Any candidate is certainly welcome.”

Scondras still denies doing anything wrong when he was arrested three years ago.

“You just don’t have the physical health and the emotional wherewithal to fight these accusations,” he said.

In 2006, police said Scondras tried to lure a man posing as a 15-year-old boy into sex in the woods near a school with offers of alcohol, marijuana and lubricant.

Scondras, who’s working on an autobiography, avoided jail time in a plea deal with prosecutors from the Essex District Attorney’s office, under which he was sentenced to 18 months’ probation, ordered to surrender his computer, and stay off the Internet and away from children younger than 16.

In 1996, Boston newspapers chronicled the reports of Scondras’ trip to a movie theater with a 16-year-old boy. The youth accused Scondras of groping him and beat Scondras severely, leaving him with a shattered jaw, a broken nose, missing teeth and internal injuries. Scondras denied the accusations and, at the time, attributed the beating to homophobia. The charges were dropped when the boy refused to testify in court.

VanBuezekom said she was never close to Scondras to begin with, and said she would not be going to his party.